Women in Bliss theme for photo exhibit

ARTS/ ENTERTAINMENT — Women in Bliss is the theme for a photographic exhibit by Amanda Barker and Jen Sheeley at the Wilson Gallery, 115 Tranquille Road, from May 27 to June 26.

The exhibit will feature local people ranging in age from four to 92 engaged in their “identified bliss.”

The artists say the intent of the exhibit is to capture and communicate, through visual images, the varied and authentic ways by which women experience and live their bliss.

Sheeley was born and raised in Kamloops. Her long-time medium of artistic expression has been mosaic work. She was commissioned to create “You Are Welcome Here” signs for the King Street Clinic in Kamlops and other clinics in the province.

“Women in Bliss” is her first photography project.

Barker became a photographer through her work as a doula. She found that being an invisible observer at births was a natural way of documenting emotion and events.

She is the director of Boho Birth Collective, a group of five doulas in the Kamloops area. Aside from being a photographer, she teaches classes and workshops for pregnant mothers and birth workers.

“Through this ‘Women in Bliss’ project, I have been honoured to be able to tell a visual story of so many strong women in Kamloops,” she said.

The exhibit is hosted by the Kamloops Arts Council and the North Shore BiA. Hours at the Wilson House Gallery are 1:30 to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday.